The Winds Which Blow
by Number III
Summary: An alternate version. "Nao was many things, but a seer she was not. And yet she had been asked to find a single, tiny flame in the Void. When she found it, it had been wavering and about to go out. Well, she would just have coax it back to life."


**A/N:** **_The time has come._** The bold, italicized text seen at the beginning of this message will be a clue for the next chapter in every chapter after this one. In this one, it's just there as an example. So... on to more relevant things. As the title might suggest, this is not to -replace- Wind and Water, but to be a second attempt at it. The original will remain, and will remain unique, and maybe be updated every once in a while, but I'm basically going to be trying to rewrite it over and better with a more drawn out and realistic plot. Let's hope this doesn't blow up in my face, alright?

Line breaks indicate either a change of scene or a change of perspective. When a major perspective change occurs, then you will be notified via bold, italicized text.

**Wind and Water: Alternate Continuity**

**Prologue**

_Zero... a Solitary Figure_

The sky was in anarchy. There was naught but rolling, angry blackness to see in every direction above – broken only on occasion by the random white flash of lightning striking against something in the distance. Snow and rain fell from above in a queer mix... all in silence. There was no sound to be heard in this world. The entire landscape was frozen over in thick sheet of frost and ice, but there was no cold to be felt... only a strange sense of numbness. The wind was terribly strong, and yet all things remained upright and in their proper place.

A long, pointed ridge protruded from the ground like an accusing finger pointed at the heavens. At its very edge stood an old windmill. Its sails, which once turned with ease in the wind to mill grain into flour, were now tattered in stiff – one even broken and hanging down at an odd angle. The entire structure was encased in ice, and the lower platform half buried in snow. Nearby a flag-post stood, angling over the edge of the cliff. Its banner, torn and riddled with holes, was impossible to see beneath the frost that coated it. It too, had become too stiff to move.

Between these two objects, a sword was embedded in the ground. It was a work of art – made of pure steel and of a simple, practical design. Its length could not be told as only half a foot of the blade was visible – the rest beneath the earth – but the long length of its hilt suggested the weapon was meant for two hands. Embedded in the cross guard, at the base of the blade, was a dull gray-blue sapphire.

Hands encased in steel gauntlets and clasped over the pommel was a cloaked figure. Nothing could be seen of them, and they might as well have been a statue. They, like everything save the blade, were entombed by ice and snow. Alongside the windmill and the flag, the figure kept a lonely vigil, overlooking the whirling mists below.

If one would ever take the time to inspect the figure closely, they might see the tears flowing out from its eyes, stained a deep, sorrowful red. Perhaps, if someone were indeed here to observe, they might think that it might not be a simple statue after all.

Oh if only it were.

* * *

><p>Nao Mariota Pryderi was many things, but a seer she was not. And still she searched through the enormous, impenetrable... emptiness that was The Void. The space between dimensions. The eternal sea. It was known by many names, but to Nao... right now, it was, put simply, a growing headache. She had only recently come into her powers and, while she knew instinctively how to use them... the task her patron goddess had given her was proving taxing.<p>

"_Search through the Void. You will find a bright, but weak flame which is threatening to be put out. Call it to this realm. If it heeds you, kindle it. If not... there is nothing that can be done."_

'_Cryptic as always...'_ Nao thought as she searched, mentally furrowing her eyebrows_._ She had been searching for this 'flame' for some time now and, while she may be allotted divine power, she herself was not a divine being, and could only use so much of it, and this search was coming close to that limit... emptiness, emptiness, _more_ bland, colorless... emptiness... light... '_Wait, light?'_ Nao focused her attention on the oddity and, sure enough, it took on the form of a small flame, dwarfed by the incomprehensible nothingness surrounding it. '_There's barely a candle's worth there...'_ She thought, reaching out to it as instructed. Giving it a signal... and a proposal.

* * *

><p>When a soul was set adrift in The Void, normally it dissipated instantly – reduced to the nothingness around it immediately... normally, that is. But... if a soul was particularly strong. If its will was particularly solid... then it will take longer to be worn away. This soul had lasted a long, long time. It had accepted its fate long ago. This is what should be. What <em>must<em> be... that's what it had told itself. But it had been lying to itself. It pretended that it would go quietly into oblivion, but instead fought the process with such vigor that the world from whence it came had changed drastically. Completely.

But now, the flame of hope was dying. The well of dreams and memories, wants and aspirations... pain and sorrow... was all finally drawing up. One by one, its memories had faded away. Like so many grains of dust cast into the wind, they had become lost to it. But still it fought. It had very little left to cling to, but it clung to what it had desperately... and all the while its flame grew ever weaker. There was little now, of what it once was, but its core remained intact. Those pieces of itself it most cherished... and most scorned... they remained.

Now though, now it was finally beginning to accept defeat. Now it grew weary, and its grip upon itself began to slacken. The flame was dying away. '_The time...'_ It thought, detached, '..._has finally come.'_

* * *

><p>Concern welled up in Nao's heart. The flame wasn't responding. Was her call not strong enough? Did she do something wrong? Or... was it simply refusing to heed her? '<em>No,<em>' She thought, '_Morrighan would not have me attempt an impossible task.'_ The flame would respond. Nao just needed to try harder.

* * *

><p>If it had been a fire before, the soul was now a glowing ember. Soon, it would be nothing at all...<p>

* * *

><p>Worried, Nao increased her efforts ten fold, ignoring the increased strain this put on her... in her desperation to make contact, something unexpected happened.<p>

* * *

><p>Nao found herself in a hallway, lined with frost. Confused and bewildered, she looked around to see the walls were covered in empty canvases, with only a few exceptions consisting of blurred, garbled images. Under her gaze, several of them were slowly losing color and blurring... suddenly, one of them simply shattered into countless glass pieces bereft of color. Startled, Nao stepped backward, her feet causing something on the ground the shift with a dull, but sharp pitch... Looking down, Nao saw the floor was absolutely covered with shattered glass fragments. Glancing about, Nao abruptly realized what she was seeing as she noticed one picture was moving, though it was slowing to a standstill.<p>

'_Memories!'_ She thought, remembering her venture into her own mind so long ago, when she was experimenting with her new abilities. It had looked much the same... but it was warmer, and the memories were far less fragmented.

A soft, almost inaudible cry caught her attention. It echoed off the walls, seeming many times louder than it actually was. '_If these are memories, then...'_ Nao gave herself a reassuring nod, and set off down the long hall.

Before she knew it, Nao stood in a circular room. Other hallways connected to it, and the walls were similarly lined with pictures. These, however, were far clearer. Nao could actually identify them as faces as opposed to incomprehensible blurs. What really caught her attention, though, was in the center of the room... there, shackled by thick, sturdy-looking chains of ice, lay a girl curled up in a ball, shivering. She couldn't have been more than ten, though Nao knew from her own experiences that the form one's soul took within itself was deceptive.

When a small whimper escaped the girl's throat, any doubts that this was the source of the original sound disappeared.

Carefully, Nao approached the girl, who slowly stopped shivering at the Soul Guide's approach. Acting on impulse, Nao extended her left hand to the girl. Haltingly, the girl took the offered hand. Nao's ocean blue eyes met with the stormy, frost-like ones of the girl... and then everything was obscured in light.

* * *

><p>In the soul stream, standing in the center of the platform she often visited, Nao opened her eyes. Looking around, she saw no sign of the girl who she had met... did that mean she failed? Did the girl fade away even as she accepted Nao's offer to pull her free?<p>

A biting cold sensation started working its way up Nao's left arm, originating from her hand. Looking down, Nao opened her fingers. Resting in the palm of her hand was a sapphire, wreathed in a mist-like, blue aura. At Nao's releasing of it, the gem floated from her palm and its aura began expanding. Five tendrils reached out from the gem – two to one side, two down, and one straight upward. Slowly, each tendril filled out until Nao was looking at the silhouette of a human about three-quarters her height. As the Guide looked on in slight awe, the aura suddenly began to freeze solid, more details forming until an extremely realistic ice sculpture stood before Nao... in the likeness of the girl from the Void.

'_I didn't fail!'_ Nao thought in relief and joy as the ice suddenly cracked and fell away, piece by piece, to reveal a living, breathing human beneath it.

Whatever kept Nao from seeing exactly what the girl looked like before was not present to interfere anymore and so Nao took the time to examine the recently liberated girl, who floated within that aura of hers, unconscious.

The girl was dressed in a simple white dress, with a silver vest covering it. Her hands, and the forward portion of her arms, which we both equally thin and frail looking, were covered by long white gloves, matching the boots which reached up to brush the girls' knees. The sapphire from before was now embedded in a gold pendant, hanging just above the girl's collar bone by a silver chain. Her hair was solid white, up to the roots, and reached to the girl's mid-back. Already, Nao could make several assumptions about the girl based on her attire, as a reincarnated soul typically dressed in whatever was most familiar to it. Whatever it was most comfortable in.

Even from her place several feet away, Nao could tell the fabric was of extremely high quality. The threads were so close-knit they were almost invisible, and the whole piece almost shimmered in the light. Judging from the style, as well, Nao guessed that this girl found her origins in a family that was well-off.

But that didn't matter. The girl's past was in another place, and another time. All that mattered to Nao at the moment was the girl's well-being... though she was admittedly curious about her new charge's role in this world. Morrighan was a goddess. Not only that, but she was known to humans as the goddess of war and vengeance. Nao wasn't, perhaps, the most perceptive of people out there, but even she could tell Morrighan had an ulterior motive beyond merely saving this girl from the Void.

Still, Nao was a compassionate person, and she had faith in Morrighan. She would take care of this girl, as best she could, until Morrighan made it clearer what the future had in store for her. When the girl stirred slightly and the aura began to recede into the sapphire, though, such thoughts were put out of Nao's mind as she moved forward to catch the child as gravity began to take hold of the newly reincarnated being...

* * *

><p><em><strong>The Girl's Perspective<strong>_

_When she awoke, she was warm_. It was a feeling so long since forgotten that it was almost foreign to her... but it comforted her all the same. It conjured up a feeling of nostalgia in the depths of her addled soul. Warmth. The warm touch of another person... now that she knew it once more, she realized just how much she had longed for it. The numbness that had set into her was slowly melting away, allowing thoughts to enter her mind. Allowing her to think. To feel. To sense. To know.

She opened her eyes, and immediately shut them once more in the face of the stark, white ambiance about her. When she winced, she felt the grip around her tighten slightly, but remain gentle all the same. Grip... She was being held, she knew now. By who?

Slowly, more carefully this time, she opened her eyes. Her sight was a haze of colors and shapes all blurring into one another, but slowly they cleared to reveal a pair of kind, sapphire eyes staring back at her. Slightly startled, she would have jumped, but the grip about her tightened in response to her sudden movement. Unable to escape, she instead studied the face across from her more closely. For it was a face, she realized, and not just a disembodied pair of eyes. It was a face which belonged to a person.

A beautiful young woman in a long, flowing black dress that hung to her figure. The girl knew this now. Recognized the sight before her, and stared in slight awe at the first living being she had seen since... since what? She no longer knew, but she knew that this beautiful being across from her was the first of its likeness she'd seen in her memory. That was enough for her.

"Hello young one." The being spoke, voice melodious and soft. Kind and relieved, but solemn and reflective. It was a voice hard to describe, and it resonated within the girl's mind as she replayed the statement, again and again. At some point in her reverie, the girl realized what had been said, and what she should say in kind.

"H-hallo." The girl said haltingly, voice quiet and cracked from lack of use. Surely she would not be heard, so quiet was her voice, but the person across from her smiled. The girl took that as a sign that she had, in fact, been heard, and smiled back, lips drawing slightly and with great difficult at the sudden command to change expression. Her face had been locked in the same expression for... a long time, after all. How long? She did not know, but she knew that it had been a terribly long time.

"Can you stand?"

Suddenly shy in the face of this being across from her, the girl merely nodded briefly. Again, the young woman interpreted the brief gesture correctly, and the girl was let down. She stumbled, and almost fell, but the beauty nearby steadied her, and the girl managed to stand correctly thereafter, though her legs quivered slightly under the weight of her body. As the young woman smiled kindly, the girl willed herself to stand taller and straighter. She dare not fall now.

"What's your name?"

The girl was caught by surprise. What _was_ her name? She couldn't recall...

"_Aeria..." A kind, but weary voice called. "You've a wonderful name... it means..."_

The girl blinked at the odd intrusion, but was struck by sudden insight and answered the question proposed to her. "Ae...Aeria." She said quietly, before gaining confidence, "Aeria Messor Spiri Aetas... The meaning is: _The Winds of Harvest which Blow Throughout the Ages(1)_."

"What a wonderful name." The young woman complimented and Aeria, sudden bout of confidence gone, merely nodded hesitantly at the compliment. "I am Nao Mariota Pryderi. My name means: _Honest, but Bitter Care(2)._"

Aeria blinked in surprise. Nao's name had such a terrible connotation to it... but she was such a kind person. Now that she was looking, though, she saw the hidden sorrow beneath Nao's kindness. It was deep and profound. Mystifying as the depths of the oceans themselves. Maybe... maybe the name fit after all. "Nao," Aeria said, testing the syllables on her tongue. At Nao's encouraging nod, Aeria continued, "...are... are you an arcana, or an elemental?"

"Well..." Nao said, "I don't know what an arcana is... though you could probably get away with calling me an elemental(3). Do you mind telling me what an arcana is?"

Aeria nodded, eager to explain, but hesitant to speak out. It took another encouraging gesture from Nao before the words seemed to form, "Arcana... the arcana were... they were beings which preceded humans. They could wield magic with ease, and were said to never age. It's said that the ro... the roy... that the roy..." Aeria held her head, a minor ache forming as she tried to remember what she was trying to say. Seeing the girl's discomfort, Nao waved dismissively.

"It's fine. You don't need to stress yourself." She said.

At Nao's assurance, Aeria gave up, nodding. "I-if you say so..." She said in her quiet, almost inaudible way. After that the two stood in silence for a while, Aeria thinking deeply, and Nao sensing it.

"Nao..." Aeria said eventually, and her companion gestured for her to continue. "...do you... do you hate me? Do you think I'm a bad person? Should I die(4)?"

Shocked, Nao's eyes widened slightly before she frantically shook her head. "No! Not at all. You deserve to live, Aeria. You're not a bad person, and I don't hate you... why would you even ask?"

Aeria could only shake her head in response, though, "I'm not sure... I... just felt I had to." The girl said, before, suddenly, she felt so tired... so very tired... and she fell forward.

By the time Nao caught her, Aeria was already asleep. Dreaming fragmented dreams of times long since come to pass. Of a life she had left behind.

* * *

><p><strong>Foot-Notes<strong>

1: Literal translation is weather blow age, but that's not nearly as interesting. That said, this is corrupted Latin, not pure Latin. It's common practice where Aeria's from to have four names – A given name, a family name that serves as a suffixe, another given name, and then a family name... so in other words she's got a given name, a middle name, and a last name, but there's another name that runs through her family after the given name.

2: Literal translation is honest, bitter, care / concern. Nao is a Japanese name. Mariota, in Hebrew, means bitter... in French it's just their version of Mary. Pryderi is a Welsh / Celtic name that means care / concern.

**SPOILERS BELOW, READ IF YOU DARE - SPOILERS BELOW, READ IF YOU DARE - SPOILERS BELOW, READ IF YOU DARE - SPOILERS BELOW, READ IF YOU DARE - SPOILERS BELOW, READ IF YOU DARE - **

3: SPOILER ALERT FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T COMPLETED G1-G3 - Technically, one could in the vaguest since call Nao an elemental... or not... the nature of her existence is never really made clear, nor is the origins behind it (between dying and coming back as she is now [no pun intended] ).

4: SPOILER ALERT FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T READ WIND AND WATER'S ORIGINAL VERSION - Aeria houses a large amount of guilt and regret within her soul. SPOILER ALERT- Represented by those frozen shackles, it's what kept her in existence, as well as what kept her from entering the normal afterlife.

**END SPOILERS - END SPOILERS - END SPOILERS - END SPOILERS - END SPOILERS - END SPOILERS - END SPOILERS - END SPOILERS - END SPOILERS - END SPOILERS - END SPOILERS - END SPOILERS -**

**Character Bios**

Name: Nao Mariota Pryderi

Meaning: Honest, but Bitter Care

Height: Unknown. Average height?

Weight: Unknown.

Hair Color: White

Hair Style: Held by a pair of thin, black ribbons in a pair of long, free-flowing ponytails with many bangs that cover the forehead.

Eye Color: An Ocean-like, Sapphire Blue in color.

Skin Color: A Healthy, but Slightly Pale, White Tone

Likes: Owls.

Dislikes: Talking about her past.

Role: Soul Guide, exact responsibilities unknown. Supporting protagonist.

Race: Tuatha da Danaan / Deity / Spirit Entity

Bio: Not much is known about Nao. She serves as a 'Soul Guide' and dwells within the Soul Stream. Her exact responsibilities are unknown. Possessed of a kind disposition, but with a hidden well of sorrow, Nao makes for a gentle, charismatic enigma. Her demeanor serves only to accentuate her beauty.

O

Name: Aeria Messor Spiri Aetas

Meaning: The Winds of Harvest which Blow Throughout the Ages.

Height: Approximately 4'3".

Weight: Almost weightless.

Hair Color: White

Hair Style: Long, free flowing. Reaches mid-back. Several bangs which brush against her eyebrows.

Eye Color: A Stormy, Blue-Gray Color

Skin Color: Stark Pale White

Likes: Nao.

Dislikes: The lack of feeling / sensations.

Role: Unknown. Main protagonist.

Race: Reincarnated Soul / Milettian

Bio: A soul pulled from the depths of The Void just before fading into nothingness by Nao, at the behest of the goddess Morrighan. Reincarnated into the body of a child, Aeria's past is shrouded in as much mystery as the future Morrighan has planned for her. Extremely soft-spoken, though more out of lack of practice than any actual physical problem, and possessed of an odd accent, Aeria is a curious figure. Inquisitive, but careful of being assertive, Aeria is a cautious girl who's just as much an enigma as Nao and Morrighan, in her own ways. Left awkward and more than slightly traumatized by the Void, Aeria is a gently glowing ember which Nao has been tasked to kindle into a flame.


End file.
